


Quiet Backstage

by AngryIceScream



Series: Technical Difficulties! [1]
Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Angst, Its glossed over but Christine and Brooke are dating, Lots of it, M/M, Platonic Boyfs!!, Will Roland is a king cmm, theatre is fun!!!, this ship is under appreciated tbh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 08:38:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16426079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngryIceScream/pseuds/AngryIceScream
Summary: “I never noticed how quiet it is back here when there’s absolutely nobody around,” Rich commented. Jeremy couldn’t help but agree.“I mean... not even Christine’s here. It feels dead. It’d feel even deader if you weren’t here.” He scooted closer to Jeremy, a rough hand sliding on top of Jeremy’s from where they sat against the wall right against the curtain.Jeremy could feel his heart going insane. He just couldn’t fuck this up.Oh, Jeremy fucked it up.





	1. Just Settle

**Author's Note:**

> yoyoyo so just a bit of a warning!!!! lots of self hating here in this book this chapter is pretty light tho,,, also for references!!!
> 
> \- i’m using will r’s jerm,,,  
> \- the squipcident never happened, it was just a big play they put on that everyone pitched in to write  
> \- though it’s very briefly mentioned throughout this book, jared n jeremy are twin brothers (it’s briefly mentioned since jared appears like once or twice)

 “Oh my God! Christine, you did great! You’re gonna blow everyone away,” Jenna chattered as she led Christine backstage, her voice much louder than it should’ve been, though she didn’t get in trouble.

Everyone was abuzz with excitement and nerves and happiness, the night right before the first show.

Jeremy was still scared he’d fuck up the lights, but, hey! He had Rich to help him!

(Even if Rich was technically supposed to be making sure that the set was okay. He could multitask!)

Rich’s eyes were lit up, Jeremy could tell it wasn’t from the lights onstage. (Partially considering they weren’t onstage, or had any of the lights on.) Rich was truly happy.

”Lighting! Set! Meet up here tomorrow immediately after school to prepare! Costuming and makeup can come here at the same time to get things laid out!” Mister Reyes shouted, arms crossed. “Oh, and Canigula? Great work out there!”

Jeremy turned, double-checking the lights, before wandering farther backstage to wait for Michael.

(Why Michael insisted on staying after school, Jeremy didn’t know.)

He didn’t notice Rich trailing along in the dark, didn’t notice the soft taps on the floor until it was too late and he was cornered by Rich and by Jake and _God why was he this much of a creep and why were they so attractive in the dark!_

Oh.

Even in the (mostly dark) depths of backstage, Jeremy could tell both of them were grinning.

”Uh- Hi?” He squeaked out. He backed against the wall, instead bumping into a sharp corner of wood. He let out a small ‘ah’ in surprise, despite how much it fucking hurt.

Rich stood on the tips of his toes to look Jeremy in the eye better. “Reyes said we can chill here as long as we don’t fuck up anything. Wanna?”

”I- Uh- Huh?” Curse his fucking brain for not being able to form actual words.

”Do you, Jeremy Heere, wanna chill here with me? And also maybe Jake for a bit. He’s gotta go soon.”

Jeremy thought it over. On one hand, hanging out with Rich would be really cool. On the other... Jeremy would literally fucking explode because holy fuck he knew how touchy Rich could be and the two of them alone would literally be the death of him and-

“Ah, fuck, change of plans,” Rich rushed out, a panicked look having taken over his face in the time that Jeremy had taken, “We need to hide in the bathrooms, like, now. You ‘n’ me since Jake said he could head out.”

”What? Wh-“ Jeremy was interrupted as he was shoved into the too small bathroom they had backstage, bumping into the wall and being pressed tighter against it was Rich stepped in and shut the door.

”Shut the fuck up,” he hissed. Rich was kind enough to press against the sink so Jeremy had more room.

Outside of the bathroom, heels clicked on the stage. Probably Chloe, Jeremy thought, until the clicking came closer to the door as whoever it was went behind the curtain.

Rich squeezed his eyes closed, holding his breath, only letting it out once the clicking had gone offstage entirely.

”.. Really bitchy teacher. She’d kill us if she knew we were here,” he explained.

Once the doors to the auditorium had been shut, Rich and Jeremy crept out of the bathroom.

”Uh- Rich, I- I was kinda gonna meet with my- Michael,” Jeremy croaked out, hands flitting from his jeans to his hair to his shirt and back to his jeans.

Rich raised an eyebrow. “Your Michael? Wouldn’t you rather hang with the, like, biggest douche in the school?”

”Chloe? I- Nah, nah, she hates me.”

”I meant me, but okay. If you really must go, I see.” Rich frowned, staring up at the ceiling. Jeremy thought he’d fucked up until a smile went back onto Rich’s face. “Kidding! You can get him in here, he can hang too!”

”Or? I could.. see.. yknow. If he’d take you with us to go... do things.”

Rich’s eyes lit up once more, a sight Jeremy loved to see more than he’d like to admit. “Really? I’d- I’d love that! You’re a good guy, Heere.”

——————

“Okay, okay, first off: no. If you fucking beat me with Princess fucking Peach, I will willingly hand over my title as the engineer bitch in the Science Olympiad.”

Rich seemed to consider it for a few moments before bursting into laughter. “Dude, I don’t even take being on the set crew seriously. Why would I take that seriously?”

”You fuckin’ will when I get into a good college for free!”

”They- Theyre still doing that?” Jeremy asked quietly, glancing up from his phone. “I thought they stopped when we were freshman.”

”Oh, no!” Michael laughed, a sudden snort that made Jeremy jump, but he loved it all the same. “I finish this year strong, I could go to a nice ass college!”

Jeremy didn’t dwell on what that would mean for their friendship.

”Anyway, Jerm, tell Rich that if he beats me as Princess Peach, then I’m actually killing him.”

No answer.

Rich laughed triumphantly before selecting Princess Peach.

Jeremy loved it.

—————

Jeremy hated being woken up by his phone, especially early in the morning. He supposed he could make an exception now, though, since all of the messages were from Rich.

_’Hey,’_

_’Hey, Jermm’_

_’Not important but like youre super cute n tbh i can’t take it’_

_’You always look so cute when you wear all black or when your hair gets curly or when you get flustered’_

Woah there, Jeremy thought. Rich had super gay thoughts? He’d always been a super hetero guy, in Jeremy’s mind. But... Jeremy did wear a lot of black. Especially during shows. And he did catch Rich’s lingering stares, but he kinda just assumed they were malicious.

Guess he was wrong.

So, staring at his screen with bleary eyes in the dark of his room, Jeremy tapped ‘call’ on Rich’s contact.

Not even two rings later, he was on the phone with Rich.

”Oh, hi- hi, Jerm. Uh... Sorry.”

”Don’t be. Uhh, so- you- you think I’m cute?”

”.. Yeah. Very.”

”No, you.”

Rich laughed from the other end of the call. Jeremy felt his heart skip a beat. Woah, what the fuck?

God, was Jeremy getting in too far? Probably.

Did he care?

Not at all.


	2. Set Slut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ah, so, Jeremy bumped into the set. And he caused it to break. Who cares!
> 
> More people than he thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i !! am !! hyped !!
> 
> i’m gonna be michael (or rich?? most likely mike) for halloween and for school and just ahhHhg i’ll post pics on instagram (hey!!! it’s angryicescream on there so!!!)
> 
> also monday is pj day,,,, n we start our fucking makeup unit in theatre arts i’m HYPED

Oh fuck Rich was going to kill him.

Jeremy hadn’t meant to bump into the set! Chloe was going to run over him and he had to move but people were surrounding him and he could only go back!

So... here they were.

Everyone was frozen, eyes glued to Jeremy and the broken ‘wall’ that he’d knocked over.

He wanted to vomit.

Even in the dim light, Jeremy could make our Rich rushing to the scene of the crime, skilled feet rushing around with ease.

”What the fuck,” Rich hissed out, hands flying up. “Jeremy, what?”

”I- I didn’t mean- everyone was-“ Oh God. Jeremy could feel it happening. He could feel the acid rising up and he could feel his after-school snack Michael had given him (a cupcake; vanilla, filled with icing) coming up with it. He pushed his way past friends and freshmen alike as he fled to the bathroom, leaving the door open as he kneeled in front of the toilet.

It was horrible. Jake went onstage to announce what had happened; Christine whisper-shrieked about how bad things were going to Brooke; Rich and Chloe worked on fixing the set; and Jeremy puked in the bathroom.

His throat burned. His chest burned. He felt gross and sweaty and wanted to just lay his head down in Michael’s lap and cry.

But Michael wasn’t backstage. He was in the audience, middle of the fourth row, next to Jeremy’s dad and his mom and his brother and both of Michael’s moms and his younger brother.

Michael didn’t know.

God, Jeremy felt so fucking horrible about what he’d done but as long as the rest of the show went smoothly, it had to be okay, right?

Wrong.

Once the set was fixed, Chloe took over lighting while Rich went to the bathroom to check on Jeremy.

Jeremy knew he definitely didn’t look cute. He looked like absolute shit.

”Hey,” Rich whispered. “You good? You need water?”

Jeremy felt the urge to hurl coming up again. “I- No, no, I’m good, thanks.”

”Are you sure? Reyes told me to check up on you. Make sure you didn’t puke your organs out.”

He would’ve laughed if he had the energy. He hated how weak he was.

Rich stepped into the bathroom, bending down next to Jeremy and laying a hand on his back. “You’re not good. Listen, come sit next to the lighting, I can run the sound and you can do the lighting.”

Jeremy hesitantly nodded, slowly pushing himself up, and flushed the toilet without looking at it. He hated how easily he puked. He went to the sink, grabbing a paper towel to wipe his mouth.

”Hey, Rich?”

”Yeah?”

”Thanks.”

—————

 After the shows always sucked. People rushed around and ran into Jeremy and it was always too difficult to find people he knew and he fucking hated it.

So he sat on the stage and waited.

Usually Michael or his parents or his brother came up to say hi at first, but this time felt different. Jeremy couldn’t find any of them, and he couldn’t even find Rich. Plus his mouth tasted like puke and it absolutely fucking sucked.

He didn’t see Jared (his brother) or Kai (Michael’s brother) or Analyn or Julie or even his dad!

But...

”Ah! Jeremy, kiddo, you did so well!” Melissa, Jeremy and Jared’s mother, shouted, rushing up to the stage with Jared in tow. Jared seemed less excited to be there.

Jeremy jumped, his head snapping up in surprise. He smiled as he met eyes with his mother, hopping off the stage quickly. He stepped forward to hug her tightly. “Hi, Mom. Sorry about the beginning of everything. I... kinda messed up the set. And puked. A bunch. Where’s-?”

”Michael? He’s... He said he was going to talk to Jake. And Julie and Analyn are looking for Michael with Kai.”

Jeremy buried his face into his mother’s hair with a small nod. She rubbed his back lightly.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, right up until Michael came back. He’d dressed a bit fancier - which is to say he wore black skinny jeans instead of normal jeans - and had at least tried to do something to his hair. Jeremy pulled away from his mother almost immediately and jumped into Michael’s arms.

”Yo! Jake told me you puked backstage. You good now?”

”Yeah. At least mostly. Rich said he wants to talk to me, though. I feel really bad for breaking the set.” Jeremy buried his face into Michael’s shoulder, taking a deep breath. He smelled nice, in Jeremy’s mind. Like a big, dumb, sweet convienience store. But... that was basically Michael. And Jeremy loved that.

”Aw, it’s chill, Jerm. Hey! You should ask him if he wants to hang out later! Say... after you brush your teeth? Because, holy fuckin’ shit, dude, that is harsh.”

Jeremy pulled away from Michael. “Yeah. I really need to brush my teeth.” He sighed lightly. He hopped back onto the stage, waving. “I’ll be back. Tell Kai I said hi?”

”Will do! Call me later, Jerm, I gotta go. I promised Ina that I’d sleep at an okay time.”

Jeremy was disappointed to say the least, but he let Michael go. As he rushed backstage again, he ran into Rich.

It felt nice, actually. He never realized how cold it was in the auditorium.

”Hey! Puke Person, you doin’ good?”

Didn’t feel so nice anymore.

Without responding, Jeremy continued on his way farther backstage. Rich trailed behind him.

”Jeremy? Dude, what’re you doing?”

Still no answer. It must’ve pissed Rich off, since he grabbed Jeremy’s shoulder and shoved him around to look.

”Heere. You can’t just break the set and ignore me forever. Fucking talk.”

It was suddenly too warm and too cold and too packed even backstage and Jeremy absolutely hated it. He just needed a hug and someone to date him! Was that too much to ask for?!

The answer?

Yes.

—————

“I- My place? Or yours?” Jeremy managed to get out, gripping his bookbag strap tightly. It was still much too cold outside, and he desperately wanted to bury himself in Michael’s hoodies that smell like weed no fucking matter how many times they get washed.

Rich didn’t seem to mind the cold, judging by his tank-top. He leaned against the freezing cold brick walls of the school as he thought. “Well... Your place would be better, but, uh, if we can’t, I’m good with mine. Just don’t judge it.”

”Why would-?”

”Long story, short time! Anyway, I walk home, unless Jake takes me, but do you think we could stop somewhere and get food? I. Am. Starving.”

Jeremy knew that had to have been an exaggeration. He watched Rich eat a family size bag of chips in PE fifteen minutes ago! 

“I guess? I’m kinda in the mood for pizza, though...”

”Do you put fucking bananas on yours?”

Jeremy’s face turned a bit red. “Wh- What? No?”

Rich nodded in response, crossing his arms. “Nice. Me either. It’s gross. Pineapple is the only good topping! Other than pepperoni! And bacon!”

”Ew. I don’t fucking know you.”

—————

Jeremy was so fucked. His heart was pounding and his face was flushed and his hair was going even curlier than usual and it was all because of Rich.

Literally who the fuck owns a crop top! And wears it on a dare!

Rich, apparently.

So here they were! Sitting side by side, playing stupid games and telling stupid stories and being dumb teenagers with two boxes of pizza next to them.

(Jeremy almost had to fight Rich to pay. The kid was relentless. It wasn’t a date! He didn’t need to be gentlemanly?!)

”So, like, are you ‘nd Michael a thing, or..?”

Jeremy’s face turned even redder. He quickly shook his head. “No- No! I just... No. He’s really into someone.”

”It’s Jake, right? They’re both dumbasses because Jake really likes Michael, too; haven’t you seen how Jake looks at Michael?”

Jeremy had, in fact. Mostly because Michael made him.

”.. Yeah. They’re so gay for each other.”

”Same! But not for Jake or Michael. They’re cute, but...”

Oh God. Here it was. The moment Jeremy Heere officially died.

Rich leaned closer to Jeremy, looking up at him with eyes that Jeremy literally wanted to stab out so he didn’t have to look at how pretty they were, and raised his eyebrows.

”You’re a lot cuter. And, yknow, maybe your cuteness could, like.. be mine?” He frowned lightly, pulling back. “That didn’t come out right, shit.”

Regardless of it coming out right or not, Jeremy was a mess. He was coughing and glancing around and sweating and _holy shit was this was flirting felt like or did Rich just ask him out?! What was happening!_

”Jerm? You okay?” He murmured, leaning forward again and brushing a bit of Jeremy's hair away from his face.

Jeremy most definitely could’ve puked right then and there. But then he wouldn’t do anything with Rich and he-

“Rich,” someone shouted from probably the kitchen, “you back yet?”

Rich scrambled up, muttering curses under his breath, and motioned for Jeremy to follow him as he left his room. “Yeah! I have a friend over, though, so shut up. Hi, though, Cody.”

Jeremy felt himself get even hotter when he saw who was in the kitchen because what the fuck, he looked like Rich but older and Jeremy would hate to see what he’d look like when he was older.

Cody, a guy not much taller than Jeremy, looked between Rich and Jeremy for a few moments. “Where you doing gay stuff, Rich?”

”Bi stuff! And, no, for the record, I was not.”

Oh.

Cody didn’t seem to believe it, but he took it anyway and started to go through the cabinets. “Whatever. Make sure he doesn’t puke like Jake did.”

”That was one time! And he felt really bad afterwards!” Rich stepped closer to Jeremy, grabbing his arm. “Plus, Jeremy puked at the play.”

”Du- What! Why would you expose me!” Jeremy put a hand on top of Rich’s, staring down at the floor. He didn’t seem genuinely upset, at least not yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y’all off topic but i’m going to church just so i can eat a fuck ton of food so pray for me,,,,,
> 
> i’m fixing my face slightly with highlighter bc my face is SHIT and also i think i have a crush on a girl i used to date again,,, after dating her sister oof
> 
> y’all need to stop me lol


End file.
